On Taking DNA Reference Samples - Comment to the Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 14 April 2020 in the Case of Dragan Petrović v. Serbia, Application no. 75229/10

The comment deals with the evaluation of (not only) Serbian law concerning taking body samples for DNA examinations. The authors share the arguments of the dissenting opinion from the judgment in question that the phrase “other medical procedures” was at that stage sufficient for such a procedure. A comparative analysis of the Polish law is also conducted.

Indirect Taxation of Events Beyond the Control of the Taxpayer in Crucial Tax and Customs Judgements of the Court of Justice

Indirect taxes are shaped in such a way that the final customers bear their economic burden. The scope of taxation is usually delineated to cover all goods (and services) reaching the afore-mentioned final consumers. One may assume that the aim of a lawmaker is that goods (or services) supplied to the consumers should not remain untaxed. However, the intensity of pursuing this aim differs between VAT, excise duties, and customs duties. A scientific question that the rules outlined above bring about is whether it is acceptable – under the general principles of the European Union law perceived through a number of tax (customs) cases – to impose duties on a person or to deprive a taxpayer of rights owing to tax-relevant facts that have been entirely out of the control of this person or this taxpayer (customs debtor). Although the position of the Court of Justice towards this issue is not homogenous, the author of this article claims that situations that are wholly beyond the scope of control of a diligent person should not affect the tax (customs) situation to the detriment of such a person.

Should Corporate Social Responsibility Around The World be Mandatory or Voluntary?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an idea that has grown during the last three decades from the voluntary activity of business firms into a debate about whether CSR should be mandated by law because of the increased demand from society. Further, it has been argued that business corporations are owned by their shareholders, and the managers must concentrate on maximizing the wealth of their shareholders and not of the community. To determine how better to apply CSR, this paper begins with looking at the evolution of CSR as a system around the world and then discusses the definition of CSR. In addition, this paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of implementing voluntary CSR and then explores mandatory CSR. Moreover, in this paper, it is found that determining the proper CSR system depends on many factors in each country, such as the social, economic and legal factors that should be examined before applying mandatory or voluntary CSR.

Regulation of Ordinary Partnership under Ethiopian Law: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Legal Issues with the French Civil Partnership and the Thai Ordinary Partnership Regimes

Civil/ordinary partnerships as non-commercial entities play a vital role as an alternative form of doing business in various jurisdictions. Though the issue of where they should be regulated is becoming nonsensical in recent times, it is wise to have a well-structured legal framework which regulates these entities. This article aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the regulation of Ethiopia’s ordinary partnership with the French civil code partnership and the Thai ordinary partnership only on issues of formation, transfer of share, management, liability of partners, dissolution of partnership, distribution of profit and loss, and expulsion of a partner. The comparative analysis shows that in many areas of regulation, the Ethiopian law has more commonalities with that of Thai ordinary partnership and French civil code partnership legal regimes. This article also finds that the Ethiopian law of ordinary partnership ought to be improved as regards the issues of the transfer of shares related to ascendants and descendants, on the distribution of profits and losses, on the role of partners in a dissolution of the partnership, and on the expulsion of a partner.

Better to Explain or to Testify? The Position of the Accused as a Source of Oral Evidence in a Criminal Trial in a Comparative Perspective

In this article the position of the accused as a source of personal evidence in three different European legal systems: Poland, Germany, and England, will be presented. This analysis will be oriented to understand the way of functioning of the two different models of giving statements of fact by the accused at a criminal trial. The main difference is that in the common law model of criminal trial the accused may only present evidence by testifying as a witness speaking about what happened, whereas in the continental model the accused gives a specific personal type of evidence (that in the Anglo-Saxon literature is rather described as “oral evidence”) that is known as explanations. From this differentiation several consequences arise: among others, the possibility of presenting untruthful explanations and presenting many versions of events in the continental model which have to be assessed by the judges. At the same time, the same right of the accused to silence and not to give incriminating evidence applies in both models of criminal trial – however, in two different shapes and with different types of limitations.

Public Law and Administration under Conditions of Hybrid Warfare (The Experience of Ukraine)

Events that took place in Ukraine in 2014 transparently demonstrated the maladjustment of the national legal and administrative system to the challenges of hybrid warfare in times of peace. Although it took into account the possibility of direct military threats, it proved not to be ready for withstanding unconventional pressure. This state of affairs significantly weakened the state’s ability to resist and led to a number of dramatic political miscalculations, organizational failures, and acute social problems. The subsequent update of the national public law and administrative system made it possible to improve the situation, but at the same time it revealed a number of pressing issues related to the need to strike a balance between the state’s commitment to ensure the protection of human rights and the necessity to protect national security. In this sense the experience of Ukraine is instructive for many countries of the world, especially for those that are the target of the geopolitical ambitions of the modern Russia. The paper discusses the public law of Ukraine in recent years with the view of highlighting some key problems of legal regulation, as well as identifying some promising ways to develop public administration so that it is capable of effectively coping with the threats of hybrid warfare.

Three Different Legal Attitudes Towards Non-Marital Cohabitation in Europe

The rising number of people “just living together”, people who are neither married nor in registered partnerships, clearly demonstrates that non-marital unions can no longer be ignored. To obtain an accurate picture of the situation of non-marital partners it was essential to conduct comparative research of multiple legal orders. This analysis threw a new light (at least from the Polish standpoint) on possible solutions to the problem of the regulation of legal aspects of “living together”. It appears that three different legal attitudes towards non-marital cohabitation may be distinguished in Europe. Firstly, there are legal orders in which by virtue of an explicit reference by the legislator – the regulations on marriage are applied to cohabitation (quasi-marriage cohabitation). Secondly, there also exist countries in which a law was adopted regulating selected aspects of actual cohabitation (implied model of cohabitation). And thirdly, there are legal orders in which any cohabitant-oriented legal regime exists.

Tackling Issues of Global Concern by Revisiting the Justifications for State Approaches to Governance

Issues of global concern typically arise where there is a limited commitment to accountable governance. This paper argues that there has been an evolution in the state function. This evolution has made it possible to envisage a progression to accountable governance across all states. If attained, this would establish accountable governance as the threshold for state participation in international relations. Failure to meet the threshold would justify intrusion in the governance affairs of states by the international community of states to ensure accountability. Thus, the paper argues that the key to addressing issues of global concern lies in getting states to embrace accountable governance. This would be the first step towards empowering the international community of states to hold accountable those states that adopt governance decisions that perpetuate issues of global concern.

Legal Aspects of Geothermal Energy Use in Poland

Geothermal energy, understood as the energy stored in the form of heat beneath the earth’s surface, is one of the types of renewable energy sources. In Poland, geothermal energy is the renewable energy source with the highest technical potential, which results from the fact that there are natural sedimentation-structure basins in Poland, filled with hot underground waters of various temperatures. One of the basic factors determining the potential development of undertakings oriented at the use of geothermal energy is the legal environment, understood as a system of legal regulations relating to human activity connected with the use of geothermal energy. The subject of this study is the analysis of legal conditions for ventures geared towards geothermal energy exploration, documentation, and extraction. In Poland there is no uniform legal act regulating these issues in a comprehensive way. The provisions of the Geological and Mining Law and the Water Law, but also the provisions of the Construction Law, Environmental Protection Law, Energy Law, and Renewable Energy Sources Act apply to the analysed projects. The complexity and multilayer character of legal regulations determines the multitude of legal procedures reflecting the regulatory function of the state, realised through the system of concessions, permits, permissions, and approvals. The aim of this study is to present the legal regulations applicable in Poland relating to the use of geothermal energy, and to analyse the level of rationing of activities undertaken in this field.

The Application of the Doctrine of Res Judicata in the Context of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Analysis of the Court’s Decisions in the Gombert and Dexter Cases

As part of an ongoing discussion on the proliferation of the human rights judicial mechanism, this article critically analyses and unpacks the only two examples where the African Court had to decide on the application of the doctrine of res judicata under Article 56(7) of the African Charter. The Court declared both applications inadmissible on the grounds of their previous settlements by the ECOWAS Court of Justice and the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The article demonstrates that while the Court’s decision in the Gombert case appears to be correct in principle, its finding in the Dexter case is highly questionable and unconvincing.